Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood...
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Grant Shaffer's NY See
Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood...
A reality check from B&H Dairy
[B&H Dairy owners Ola and Fawzy Abdelwahed in 2018]
Here's a post from B&H Dairy on Instagram yesterday that sums up the hardships of running a small food business during the COVID-19 crisis:
Dear B&H Family,
As you know we have been struggling to survive the pandemic as a business. While we are now “open,” we wanted to update you with a reality check as to our situation as of today.
B&H, like many, if not all restaurants, large or small, remains at risk of closing. That is a fact. Anyone who is under the impression that because a restaurant “open,” all is “back to normal,” is not grasping the reality of the pandemic and its consequences.
We went from serving 200 customers a day to only 20 customers a day when we first reopened for pick-up and delivery. We had to cover paying our employees, rent, utilities, and buying food for the restaurant on only 10% of our previous income.
We started an ongoing GoFundMe campaign, to which many of you continue to donate repeatedly, for which we are deeply grateful.
When we were able to reopen, we made changes, accepting credit cards and using food delivery apps for the first time, which increased our customers to about 50 a day, on a good day. Still not back to normal.
We applied for all appropriate relief loans and grants from various city and government agencies, none of which have been granted so far, except for one tiny grant early on, which covered a fraction of one month’s rent, and has since been repaid. To date, though several applications are pending, we have received no further government assistance or relief.
This weekend we adjusted our hours, now closing on Mondays, and cut staff, saying goodbye to Mike. Though he had been with B&H for 14 years, he was one of our most junior employees. Many of our remaining staff are the sole breadwinner for their families.
We are in a fight to survive. We hope that the combination of business, our GoFundMe campaign, and we pray, government relief, will allow us to ride out this storm. This has been a very stressful time for everyone at B&H, so much so, that Ola is now under a doctor’s care.
However, we have faith in B&H! We have been around since 1938, been through numerous owners, staff, closures, and disasters, such as the Spring 2015 2nd Ave. gas explosion, and yet have survived. We thank you, our B&H Family, for your continued love and support.
B&H Dairy is at 127 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. Phone: (212) 505-8065.
Updated: The crowdfunding campaign for Mike is at this link.
Clay Pot won't be returning to St. Mark's Place
Clay Pot's tenure at 58 St. Mark’s Place has officially come to an end, management confirmed via an Instagram message.
The restaurant, which served Hong Kong style open-flame cooked clay pot rice, opened here between First Avenue and Second Avenue in February 2018. It had been closed since the COVID-19 PAUSE. Their Bleecker Street outpost remains in service.
Per the rep: "St. Mark's Place will always have a place in our hearts."
The tooth about this new Avenue A tenant
Another day, another [sort of] surprising new Avenue A storefront reveal. We just noted a laundromat is opening soon between Second Street and Third Street... and yesterday, the signage went up outside the vacant storefront on Avenue A at Fourth Street...
... marking a new location for Kids Dental, which is what it sounds like. A dentist for kids. The practice also has outposts in Washington Heights and Bensonhurst.
A Santander branch was here on the southwest corner until April 2018. Between full-time tenants, ChaShaMa — a nonprofit that partners with property owners for pop-up galleries — was using the space.
And here's Prince Tea House on 10th Street
[Photo by Steven]
The plywood has come down from outside 204 E. 10th St. just east of Second Avenue where Prince Tea House will be opening in the weeks ahead.
This will be the sixth NYC location for the chainlet that also serves coffee, desserts, wine and brunch.
The East Village location is currently hiring.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Prince Tea House expanding to the East Village with an outpost on 10th Street
Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Noted
Our friends at DeColores Community Yard shared this photo from Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C this morning ... a DNC party favor for tonight?
Report: Cloister Cafe owner sues state over suspended liquor license
The owner of the Cloister Cafe is suing the State Liquor Authority (SLA) after its license was recently suspended at 238 E. Ninth Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.
Here's the official report that the SLA posted:
On August 7th, the New York City Sheriff's Office requested assistance from the state's multi-agency task force at this establishment approximately 12:30 a.m. — well past the 11 p.m. NYC curfew. Investigators found the restaurant operating as a nightclub and hookah lounge with a live DJ, documenting numerous patrons ignoring social distancing with lines of customers congregating in front of the premises without facial coverings, at least twenty patrons consuming alcohol indoors under a fixed roof, and no receipts for food purchases. The inspection identified thirty-three significant fire and life safety violations, with the NYC Sheriff's Office issuing seven criminal court summonses.
The exclusive pandemic parties were reportedly hosted at Cloister Cafe — aka Café Tucano — by Provocateur, a former Meatpacking District club.
One recent attendee told Gothamist, in a story published on Aug. 4, that he saw "hundreds of people, nobody is social distancing, nobody is wearing masks. It’s like the normal club scene. There’s a lot of spenders there. If they do social distancing, they can’t make money. They need to have a packed room full of people to make money."
As Page Six first reported, Cloister Cafe claims that the SLA didn't properly investigate the alleged violations — and just copied the claims from Gothamist, which in part relied on two Instagram posts by "self-styled social-distancing watchdog" Kristina Alaniesse.
"Instead of investigating, the SLA decided to rely upon the Gothamist, which is hardly a legal treatiste," Cloister's lawyer Robert Garson told Page Six.
They believe the closure was "illegal, uninvestigated and uninformed based on a sole Instagram post."
"The liquor authority are acting like … they've imposed a form of [martial law] that they’re not adhering to proper investigation," Garson said. "There are lots of people hurting [in hospitality]. [Owner Nick Drobenko is] taking the fight, not for himself, but for them as well."
In a post yesterday about the lawsuit, Gothamist laid out their reporting that went into the original story:
In fact, our reporting was based on interviews with nearly a dozen people, including almost half a dozen who had been to their events in person. Alaniesse did however post two damning videos which were taken at the spot on July 30th and which were cited by investigators...
Multiple attendees told us masks and social distancing were not being enforced whatsoever at the club, and that parties were routinely going past 11 p.m. and early into the morning multiple times a week.
An SLA spokesperson told this to Gothamist:
[A]ny claim that Cafe Cloister’s summary suspension was based on social media posts or media accounts is demonstrably false. Both the New York City Sheriff’s Office and investigators with the state's multi-agency task force conducted an inspection of Cafe Cloister at approximately 12:30 am on August 7th — more than an hour after New York City’s 11:00 pm curfew for outdoor dining — and documented a multitude of violations, each of which put New Yorkers' health and safety in danger during a global pandemic.
O'Hanlon's preps for reopening
O'Hanlon's has been dormant since the start of the COVID-19 PAUSE. In fact, a few regulars wondered if the neighborhood tavern might return at all to 349 E. 14th St. just west of First Avenue.
However, in a positive sign yesterday, EVG regular Pinch noted activity at the bar, as the staff started prepping to reopen... including the construction of sidewalk seating. The bar also teased a return on social media, noting "coming soon" ...
O'Hanlon's announced that they will open Monday, Aug. 24, from 4 to 11 p.m.
Storefront surprise! A new laundromat coming soon to 31 Avenue A
Well then. The paper covering the front windows over at 31 Avenue A between Second Street and Third Street came down the other day... revealing the useful new tenant coming soon — laundromat!
The space, owned by the NYCHA, had been vacant since Venus Body Arts moved out toward the end of 2017.
The original Juice Press has closed
The very first Juice Press, which debuted at 70 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue in 2010, is now for rent.
The plant-based food and beverage brand, with more than 80 locations in seven states now, had its humble beginnings in the East Village. Before opening the First Street shop in 2010, JP founder Marcus Antebi put up signs announcing a Robot Daycare and NY Academy of Mime, among other things, coming soon.
This location has been closed since someone broke in and looted the space in early June.
JP recently launched the JP Organic Market online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Aug. 18
Spotted on Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... hiding the Christmas tree with the recyclables ... thanks to Riian Kant-McCormick for the photo! (And thanks to everyone else who pointed this one out, including Sally Long Dog!)
'In The Realm Of Anansi From Assisi' continues on at Le Petit Versailles
"In The Realm Of Anansi From Assisi," an installation by longtime East Village resident Peter Cramer, continues through Sept. 13 at Le Petit Versailles, the community garden and arts space at 247 E. Second St. (aka 346 E. Houston St.) between Avenue B and Avenue C.
There is limited public access (three mask-wearing people at a time while keeping social distance) Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 8 to 10. Otherwise, there is viewing daily from outside the fences on Second Street.
Here's more about the installation via the EVG inbox:
In The Realm of Anansi From Assisi (ITROAFA) is an immersive environment of the storyteller Anasi, a mythical African spider god, a fantastical garden landscape of light and line — a place of pilgrimage and healing where visitors may wander finding solace and respite during this time of disease.
The sculpture, visual elements, moving images, and sounds created by the principal artists reconcile science with mythology; from the evocation of the creation of the universe to the emergence of hominid creatures and culminating with the emergence of language represented by Anansi.
On Thursday (Aug. 20) evening at 7:30, Le Petit Versailles is hosting a live concert by NYOBS, the alternative experimental free association "kitchen" band featuring Mike Cacciatore, Peter Cramer, John Michael Swartz and Jack Waters.
You may listen from the sidewalk outside the garden or enjoy the sounds via Zoom. Find more details at the events page on Facebook.
Friends and neighbors come together to help Chef Lek at Lui's Thai Food
[Photo from early August by Stacie Joy]
East Village resident Pimnapa "Lek" Sunthatkolkarn, the chef/owner of Lui's Thai Food on Fourth Street, was hospitalized late last week. She remains in the hospital in stable condition, per EVG contributor Stacie Joy.
Lek's friends and neighbors have come together and launched a crowdfunding campaign to help her and her family with expenses.
Per the campaign:
Lek, who grew up in Bangkok, has lived in the EV for more than 30 years and previously owned the much loved Thai restaurant, Holy Basil, before opening Lui's Thai Food. At 62 years old, Chef Lek is a powerhouse and a beloved neighbor in the community.
You may find the GoFundMe link here.
The restaurant at 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue remains closed for now...
Previously on EV Grieve:
• A visit to Lui’s Thai Food on 4th Street
[Photo from March 2019]
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